Veteran CPM leader VS Achuthanandan turns 97

Born on October 20, 1923, VS Achuthanandan turned 97. He was the Chief Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011 and is the current and longest-serving chairman of Administrative reforms in the state. He also played a crucial role in raising the Communist party in Kerala right from the grass-root level.

Thiruvananthapuram:VS Achuthanandan, the revolutionary leader, who held high the Communist party and its principles and gave strength to the people to fight against the oppressive caste system and inequalities in practice, turned 97 on Tuesday.

Velikkakathu Shankaran Achuthanandan fondly referred as Comrade VS, is a veteran communist leader who had played a crucial role in raising the Communist party in Kerala right from the grass-root level.

He has been an extremely popular leader who always enthralled and inspired masses, and was inspired in turn while interacting with them.

Born into a poor family from Punnapra in the present Alappuzha district to Velikkakath Sankaran and Akkamma, on October 20, 1923, Achuthanandan lost his mother when he was just 4 years old and his father when he was 11. Following this, he had to drop out of school when he was in his 7th grade and had to work.

V.S slowly came up as a leader at his workplace, a coir factory. In 1940, he took membership in the Communist Party and became a complete party worker. Comrade V. S. led the historical Punnapra - Vayalar uprise in 1946 after which he was taken into custody where he was brutally harassed.

Fighting death and surviving all the custodial harassment, V.S. grew to be an unparalleled leader in the party thereafter. Through the stringent discipline of a true communist and the clarity in his stands, comrade V.S. soon became the people’s leader.

Taking up various roles and responsibilities entrusted by the party, V.S. became the State Secretary for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), Left Democratic Front (LDF) Convenor, Opposition Leader, State Chief Minster and much more in his stride.

He is now the present Chairman of Administrative Reforms Commission in Kerala.

V.S. who has experienced success and failure for decades together, needs rest owing to his age-related limitations. Nevertheless, he remains a revolutionary who cannot be replaced in people’s minds.

V.S. is currently undergoing treatment for a blood clot in his brain. Vistors have been completely restricted to prevent infections.

He has also been restricted to his house following the pandemic. His regular morning walks at the University Stadium is now being done in the premises of his house. His morning routine of knowing the news from newspapers has not changed at all.

As he can not read, he is now used to listening to the news being read out loud by someone.

Political interventions and conversations through social media are also rare for V.S. as he sticks to writing by hand and reading before publishing something. He insists on getting published in this manner rather than through social media posts.

V.S. never believed in celebrating birthdays. The media persons who reach his house on his birthday would be given a Payasam (a kheer) and a ‘cake-cutting’ is done for his family who insists on it.

That is all about V.S.’s birthday celebrations, usually. Owing to the COVID pandemic, this birthday would be one without any public interaction for VS, who always loves to be among people.

V.S. lives at Kowdiar House in Thiruvananthapuram, the official residence for the Chairman, Administrative Reforms Commission.